There were several variants of anarchism in
Spain: the peasant anarchism in the countryside of Andalusia; urban anarcho-syndicalism in Catalonia, particularly its
capital Barcelona; and
what is sometimes called "pure" anarchism in other cities such as
Zaragoza. However, these were complementary
trajectories, and shared a great deal of ideological
similarities.

Early on, the success of the anarchist movement was sporadic.
Anarchists would organize a strike and ranks would swell. Usually, repression by police reduced the numbers again,
but at the same time further radicalized many members. This cycle
helped lead to an era of mutual violence at the beginning of the
20th century, in which armed anarchists and pistoleros,
armed men paid by company owners, were both responsible for
political assassinations.

In the 20th century, this violence began to fade, and the
movement gained speed with the rise of anarcho-syndicalism and the
creation of the huge libertariantrade union, the CNT. General strikes
became common, and large portions of the Spanish working class
adopted anarchist ideas. The FAI was created as a
purely anarchist association, with the intention of keeping the CNT
focused on the principles of anarchism.

Anarchists played a central role in the fight against Franco
during the Spanish Civil War. At the same time, a far-reaching social
revolution spread throughout Spain, where land and factories
were collectivized and controlled by the
workers. All remaining social reforms ended in 1939 with the
victory of Franco, who had thousands of anarchists executed. Resistance to his rule never
entirely died, with resilient militants participating in acts of sabotage and other direct action after
the war, and making several attempts on the ruler's life.

History

Beginning

In the mid-19th century, revolutionary ideas were generally unknown
in Spain. The closest thing to a radical movement was found amongst
the followers of Pierre Joseph Proudhon, known as
federalists, the most
famous of whom was Francesc Pi i Margall (named,
upon his death, "the wisest of the federalists, almost an
anarchist" by anarchist thinker Ricardo Mella). Feelings later associated
with anarchism, like anti-clericalism and distrust of
government, were widespread but part of no focused worldview. There
was a history of peasant unrest in some parts of the country. This
was not related to any political movement, but rather borne out of
circumstances. The same was true in the cities; long before workers
were familiar with anarcho-syndicalism, there were general strikes
and other conflicts between workers and their employers.

Fanelli spoke in French and Italian, so those present could only
understand bits of what he was saying, except for one man, Tomás
González Morago, who knew French. The effect, however, was the
same. Anselmo
Lorenzo gives an account of his oratory: "His voice had a
metallic tone and was susceptible to all the inflexions appropriate
to what he was saying, passing rapidly from accents of anger and
menace against tyrants and exploiters to take on those of
suffering, regret and consolation...we could understand his
expressive mimicry and follow his speech." These workers, longing
for something more than the mild radicalism of the day, became the
core of the Spanish Anarchist movement, quickly spreading "the
Idea" across Spain. The oppressed and marginalized working classes
were very susceptible to an ideology attacking institutions they
perceived to be oppressive, namely: the State with its corruption and
brutality, capitalism
with its gross divide between wretched poverty and grand wealth,
and the supremely powerful and coercive institution of organized religion.

A chapter of the First International was soon set up in Madrid. A few dedicated
anarchists, first introduced to "the Idea" by Fanelli, began
holding meetings, giving speeches, and attracting new followers. By
1870, the Madrid chapter of the International had gained roughly
2,000 members.

Anarchism gained a much larger following in Barcelona, already a bastion of proletarian rebellion, Luddism, and trade unionism. The already militant
working class was, as in Madrid, introduced to the philosophy of
anarchism in the late 1860s. In 1869, a section of the
International was formed in Barcelona.

These centers of revolutionary activity continued to spread
ideas, through speeches, discussions, meetings, and their
newspaper, La Solidaridad (English translation:
Solidarity). Anarchism had soon taken root throughout
Spain, in villages and in cities, and in scores of autonomous
organizations. Many of the rural pueblos were already anarchic in
structure prior to the spread of "anarchist" ideas.

An etching of the Congress of 1870

An important event in these years was the Congress of 1870 in
Barcelona, where delegates from 150 workers' associations met,
along with thousands of common workers observing ("occupying every
seat, filling the hallways, and spilling out beyond the entrance,"
according to Murray Bookchin). The Spanish section
of the International was here renamed the Spanish Regional
Federation (also known as simply the Spanish Federation),
and outlines for future organization were discussed. The Congress
had a clear anarchist flavor despite the presence of non-anarchist
members of the International from other European nations. It was looked upon with
disdain by the mainstream press and the existing political
parties, for the Congress openly attacked the political process
as an illegitimate means of change and foreshadowed the future
power of syndicalist trade unions such as the CNT.

Socialists and liberals within the
Spanish Federation sought to reorganize Spain in 1871 into five
trade sections with various committees and councils. Many
anarchists within the group felt that this was contrary to their
belief in decentralization. A year of conflict
ensued, in which the anarchists fought the "Authoritarians" within
the Federation and eventually expelled them in 1872. In the same
year, Mikhail Bakunin was expelled from the International by the
Marxists, who were the majority. Anarchists, seeing the hostility
from previous allies on the Left, reshaped the nature of their
movement in Spain. The Spanish Federation became decentralized, now
dependent on action from rank-and-file workers rather than bureaucratic councils; that is, a group
structured according to anarchist principles.

Early turmoil, 1873 to
1900

In the region of Alcoy,
workers struck in 1873 for the eight hour day
following much agitation from the anarchists. The conflict turned
to violence when police fired
on an unarmed crowd, which caused workers to storm City Hall in
response. Dozens were dead on each side when the violence ended.
Sensational stories were made up by the press about atrocities that
never took place: priests crucified, men doused in gasoline and set
on fire, etc.

The government quickly moved to suppress the Spanish Federation.
Meeting halls were shut down, members jailed, publications banned.
Until the turn of the 20th century, proletarian anarchism
remained relatively fallow in Spain.

However, anarchist ideas still remained popular in the rural
countryside, where destitute peasants waged a lengthy series of
unsuccessful rebellions
in attempts to create "libertarian
communism". Throughout the 1870s, the Spanish Federation drew
most of its members from the peasant areas of Andalusia after the decline of its urban
following. In the early 1870s, a section of the International was
formed in Córdoba, forming a necessary link
between the urban and rural movements.

These small gains were largely destroyed by State repression,
which by the mid-1870s had forced the entire movement underground.
The Spanish Federation faded away, and conventional trade unionism for a while began to replace
revolutionary action, although anarchists remained abundant and
their ideas not forgotten; the liberal nature of this period was
perhaps borne out of despair rather than disagreement with
revolutionary ideas. Anarchists were left to act as tigres
solitarios (roughly "lone tigers"); attempts at mass
organization, as in the Pact of Union and Solidarity, had some
ephemeral success but were destined to failure.

The lack of revolutionary organization led many anarchists to
commit acts of violence as a form of direct action, and occasional uprisings
broke out, as in Jerez, with no success. The government came
to equate anarchism with terrorism and responded in kind.
Anarchists were met with the severest repression; a famous example
is the mass arrest and resulting torture of anarchist prisoners at
the castle of Montjuich in Barcelona in 1892. As many as
400 people were brought to the dungeons following a bombing (the
guilty party was never found). International outrage followed
reports that the prisoners were brutally tortured: men hanged from
ceilings, genitals twisted and burned, fingernails ripped out.
Several died before being brought to trial, and five were
eventually executed.

The anarchist idea was propagated by many periodicals like
El Socialismo started by Fermín Salvochea. Salvochea is
considered one of the earliest pioneers in the propagation and
organization along anarchist lines.[1]

The rise of
anarcho-syndicalism

Terrorism by
extremists became less common around the turn of the century.
Anarchists saw the obvious need for a form of direct action capable
of overthrowing the State and capitalism. The idea of syndicalism became
popular (or anarcho-syndicalism to
differentiate from the reformist syndicalism in other parts of Europe). Purist "Anarchist
Communists" were unwilling to adopt syndicalist ideas and
became marginalized, although the two groups soon became
indistinguishable.

A new organization, the Federation of Workers' Societies of the
Spanish Region, was formed in 1900. The organization adopted
syndicalism on libertarian principles. Its success was immediate:
general strikes swept across Spain within a year. Many of these
strikes had no visible leadership but were initiated purely by the
working class. As opposed to reformist strikes, many of these
strikers made no clear demands (or intentionally absurd demands;
for example, the demand to be given seven and a half rest hours in
an eight hour day); in some cases workers demanded no less than the
end of capitalism. The Spanish government responded harshly to
these developments, and the Federation of Workers' Societies was
suppressed. But the decentralized nature of anarcho-syndicalism
made it impossible to completely destroy and attempts to do so only
emboldened the spirit of resistance.

"The
Tragic Week"

Two events in 1909 bolstered support for another general strike
in Barcelona. A textile factory was shut down, with 800 workers
fired. Across the industry, wages were being cut. Workers, even
outside the textile industry, began to plan for a general strike.
At around the same time, the government announced that military
reserves would be called up to fight in Morocco, where tribesmen were skirmishing with
Spanish troops. The reservists, mostly workingmen, were not keen to
risk their lives or kill others to protect what they characterised
as the interests of Spanish capitalists (the fighting was blocking
routes to mines and slowing
business). Anti-war
rallies sprang up across the country, and talk of a general strike
could be heard.

The strike began in Barcelona on July 26, a few weeks after the
call for reserves was made. It quickly developed into a widespread
uprising. Anselmo Lorenzo wrote in a letter: "A
social revolution has broken out in Barcelona and it has been
started by the people. No one has led it. Neither the Liberals nor
Catalan
Nationalists, nor Republicans, nor Socialists, nor Anarchists."
Police stations were attacked. Railroad lines leading into
Barcelona were destroyed. Barricades sprang up in the streets.
Eighty churches and monasteries were destroyed by members of the Radical Party (who, it should be noted,
were generally much less "radical" than anarchists or socialists),
and six individuals were killed during the disturbances. After the
revolt, about 1,700 individuals were indicted on various charges.
Most were let go, but 450 were sentenced. Twelve were given life
imprisonment and five were executed, including Francisco Ferrer, who was not even in
Barcelona at the time of the insurrection.

Following this "Tragic Week," the government began repressing
dissidents on a larger scale. Unions were suppressed, newspapers
were shut down, and libertarian schools were closed. Catalonia was put under martial law until
November. Rather than giving up, the Spanish working class became
emboldened and more revolutionary than before, as workers adopted
syndicalism as a revolutionary strategy.

The rise of
the CNT

The anarchist movement lacked a stable national organization in
its early years. Anarchist Juan Gómez Casas discusses the evolution
of anarchist organization before the creation of the CNT: "After a
period of dispersion, the Workers Federation of the Spanish Region
disappeared, to be replaced by the Anarchist Organization of the
Spanish Region...This organization then changed, in 1890, into the
Solidarity and Assistance Pact, which was itself dissolved in 1896
because of repressive legislation against anarchism and broke into
many nuclei and autonomous workers' societies...The scattered
remains of the FRE gave rise to Solidaridad
Obrera in 1907, the immediate antecedent of the
[CNT]."

There was a general consensus amongst anarchists in the early
20th century that a new, national labor organization was needed to
bring coherency and strength to their movement. This organization,
named the Confederación Nacional
del Trabajo (CNT) was formed in October 1910 during a congress
of Solidaridad Obrera. During this congress, a resolution
was passed declaring that the purpose of the CNT would be to
"hasten the integral economic emancipation of the entire working
class through the revolutionary expropriation of the
bourgeoisie...." The CNT started off fairly small, with about
30,000 members across various unions and confederations.

The national confederation was split into smaller regional ones,
which were again broken down into smaller trade unions. Despite
this many-tiered structure, bureaucracy was consciously avoided.
Initiatives for decisions came largely from the individual unions.
There were no paid officials; all positions were staffed by common
workers. Decisions made by the national delegations did not have to
be followed. The CNT was in these respects much different from the
comparatively rigid socialist unions.

A general strike was called a mere five days after its founding
by triumphant, and perhaps overzealous, workers. It spread across
several cities throughout Spain; in one city, workers took over the
community and killed the mayor. Troops moved into all major cities
and the strike was quickly crushed. The CNT was declared an illegal
organization, and thus went underground only a week after its
founding. A few years later it continued with overt strike actions,
as in the general strike organized in tandem with the
Socialist-dominated UGT (a rare occurrence, as the two groups were
usually at odds) to protest the rising cost of living.

General
Strike of 1917

A general strike broke out in 1917, mostly organized by
socialists but with notable anarchist activity, particularly in
Barcelona. There barricades were built, and strikers tried to stop
trolleys from running. The government responded by filling the
streets with machine
guns. Fighting left seventy people dead. In spite of the
violence, the strike's demands were moderate, typical of a
socialist strike of the time.

The CNT Following World War
I

Spain's economy
suffered upon the decline of the wartime economy. Factories closed,
unemployment
soared and wages declined. Expecting class conflict, especially in
light of the then recent Russian
Revolution, much of the capitalist class began a bitter war
against unions, particularly the CNT. Lockouts became more frequent. Known
militants were blacklisted. Pistoleros, or assassins, were
hired to kill union leaders. Scores, perhaps hundreds, of
anarchists were murdered during this time period. Anarchists
responded in turn with a number of assassinations, the most famous
of which is the murder of Prime Minister Eduardo Dato Iradier.

The CNT, by this time, had as many as a million members. It
retained its focus on direct action and syndicalism; this meant
that revolutionary currents in Spain were no longer on the fringe,
but very much in the mainstream. While it would be false to say
that the CNT was entirely anarchist, the prevailing sentiment
undoubtedly leaned in that direction. Every member elected to the
"National Committee" was an overt anarchist. Most rank and file
members espoused anarchist ideas. Indeed, much of Spain seemed to
be radiant with revolutionary fervor; along with waves of general
strikes (as well as mostly successful strikes with specific
demands), it was not uncommon to see anarchist literature floating
around ordinary places or common workers discussing revolutionary
ideas. One powerful opponent from the upper classes (Diaz del
Moral) claims that "the total working population" was overcome with
the spirit of revolt, that "all were agitators."

Whereas anarchism in Spain was previously disjointed and
ephemeral, even the smallest of towns now had organizations and
took part in the movement. Different parts of the CNT (unions,
regions, etc.) were autonomous and yet inextricably linked. A
strike by workers in one field would often lead to solidarity
strikes by workers in an entire city. This way, general strikes
often were not "called", they simply happened organically.

General
Strike of 1919

In 1919, employers at a Barcelona hydroelectric plant, known locally as
La Canadiense, cut wages, triggering a
44 day long and hugely successful general strike with over 100,000
participants. Employers immediately attempted to respond
militantly, but the strike had spread much too rapidly. Employees
at another plant staged a sit-in in support of their fellow
workers. About a week later, all textile employees walked out. Soon after,
almost all electrical workers went on strike as well.

Barcelona was placed under martial law, yet the strike continued in
full force. The union of newspaper printers warned the newspaper
owners in Barcelona that they would not print anything critical of
the strikers. The Government in Madrid tried to destroy the strike
by calling up all workers for military service, but this call was not
heeded, as it was not even printed in the paper. When the call got
to Barcelona by word of mouth, the response was yet another strike
by all railway and trolley workers.

The Government in Barcelona finally managed to settle the
strike, which had effectively crippled the Catalan economy. All of the striking workers
demanded an eight hour day, union recognition, and the rehiring of
fired workers. All demands were granted. It was also demanded that
all political prisoners be released. The
government agreed, but refused to release those currently on trial.
Workers responded with shouts of "Free everybody!" and warned that
the strike would continue in three days if this demand was not met.
Sure enough, this is what occurred. However, members of the Strike
Committee and many others were immediately arrested and police
effectively stopped the second strike from reaching great
proportions.

The Government tried to appease the workers, who were clearly on
the verge of insurrection. Tens of thousands of unemployed
workers were returned to their jobs. The eight hour day was
declared for all workers. Thus, Spain became the first country in
the world to pass a national eight hour day law, as a result of
1919's general strike.

After the 1919 general strike, increasing violence against CNT
organizers, combined with the rise of the Primo
de Riveradictatorship (which banned all anarchist
organizations and publications), created a lull in anarchist
activity. Many anarchists responded to police violence by becoming
pistoleros themselves. This was a period of mutual
violence, in which anarchist groups including Los Solidarios
assassinated political opponents. Many anarchists were killed by
gunmen of the other side.

The FAI

During the Primo de Rivera years, much of the CNT leadership began
to espouse "moderate" views, ostensibly holding an anarchist
outlook but holding that the fulfilment of anarchist hopes would
not come immediately. The Federación Anarquista
Ibérica (FAI) was formed in 1927 to combat
this tendency.

Its organization was based on autonomous affinity groups. The FAI remained a very
secretive organization, even after acknowledging its existence two
years after its formation. Its surreptitious nature makes it
difficult to judge the extent of its membership. Estimates of FAI
membership at the time immediately preceding the revolution range
from 5,000 to 30,000. Membership dramatically increased during the
first few months of the Civil War.

The FAI was not ideally libertarian, being
dominated by very aggressive militants such as Juan
García Oliver and Buenaventura Durruti. However, it
was not authoritarian in its actual methods; it
allowed freedom of dissent to its members. In fact the overall
organization of the FAI was very loose, unlike Bakunin's "Alliance"
which was, however, an important precedent in creating an
organization for pushing forward anarchist ideology.

The FAI was militantly revolutionary, with actions including
bank robberies to acquire funds, and the organization of general
strikes, but at times became more opportunist. It supported
moderate efforts against the Rivera dictatorship, and in 1936,
contributed to establishment of the Popular
Front. By the time the anarchist organizations began
cooperating with the Republican government, the FAI essentially
became a de facto political party and the affinity group
model was dropped, not uncontroversially.

The Fall of Rivera and
the New Republic

The CNT initially welcomed the Republic as a preferable alternative to dictatorship, while
still holding on to the principle that all States are
inherently deleterious, if perhaps to varying degrees of
severity.

This relationship did not last long, though. A strike by
telephone workers led to street fighting between CNT and government
forces; the army used machine guns against the workers. A similar
strike broke out a few weeks later in Seville; twenty anarchists were killed and one
hundred were wounded after the army besieged a CNT meeting place
and destroyed it with artillery. An insurrection occurred in Alto
Llobregat, where miners took over the town and raised red and black
flags in town halls.

These actions provoked harsh government repression and achieved little
tangible success. Some of the most active anarchists, including Durruti and
Ascaso,
were deported to Spanish territory in Africa. This provoked protest and an
insurrection in Terrassa,
where, like in Alto Llobregat, workers stormed town halls and
raised their flags. Another failed insurrection took place in 1933,
when anarchist groups attacked military barracks with the hope that
those inside would support them. The government had already learned
of these plans, however, and quickly suppressed the revolt.

None of these actions had any success. They resulted in
thousands of jailed anarchists and a wounded movement. At the same
time, infighting (largely instigated by so-called
treintistas) hurt the unity of the anarchist struggle.

Prelude to
Revolution

A poster from the 1930s.

The national focus on Republic and reform led the anarchists to
cry "Before the ballot boxes, social revolution!" In their view,
liberal electoral reforms were futile and undesirable, and
impeded the total liberation of the working classes.

An uprising took place in December 1933. Aside from a prison
break in Barcelona, no gains were made by revolutionaries before
the police quelled the revolt in Catalonia and most of the rest of
the country. Zaragoza saw ephemeral insurrection in the form of
street fighting and the occupation of certain buildings.

In Casas Viejas, militants quickly surrendered
when they were outnumbered by police forces. However, one old
anarchist called "Six fingers" barricaded himself in his home with
his family and vowed to resist arrest. His house was burned down,
his family was killed, and the anarchists who previously
surrendered peacefully were shot. This massacre provoked torrents
of condemnation, even from conservative Republicans.

An important strike took place in April, again in Zaragoza. It
lasted five weeks, shutting down most of Zaragoza's economy. Other
parts of the country were supportive; anarchists in Barcelona took
care of the strikers' children (about 13,000 of them).

Asturias

Perhaps the clearest prequel to revolution (and civil war) came
in 1934, in the mining districts of Asturias. The strike here was a cooperative
effort of communists and anarchists, with the former having more
representation, but with events mirroring more closely an anarchist
mindset. Communists had some influence, but their numbers were
small; the Communist Party had perhaps 1,000 members in 1934
compared with the UGT's 1.44 million and the CNT's 1.58
million.

The miners' strike began with attacks on barracks of the Civil
Guard. In the town of Mieres, police barracks and the town
hall were taken over. Strikers moved on, continuing to occupy
towns, even the capital of Asturias in Oviedo. Workers had control over most of
Asturias, under chants of "Unity, Proletarian brothers!" The ports
of Gijon and
Aviles
remained open. Anarchist militants defending against the imminent
arrival of government troops were denied sufficient arms by
suspicious communists. So fell the uprising, with great violence
upon the rebels, but also with great unity and revolutionary fervor
amongst the working classes.

The crushing of the revolt was led by General Francisco
Franco, who would later lead a rebellion against the republic
and become dictator of Spain. The use of the Foreign Legion and the Moorish Regulares to kill
Spaniards caused public outrage. Captured miners faced torture, rape, mutilation, and
execution. This foreshadowed the same brutality seen two years
later in the Spanish Civil War.

The Popular
Front

With the growth of right-wing political parties (Gil Robles'
conservative CEDA, for example), leftist parties felt
the need to join together in a "Popular Front." This included
Republicans, Socialists, Communists, and other left parties;
Anarchists were not willing to support it but refused to attack it,
either, thus helping it get into power.

The more radical elements of the CNT-FAI were not satisfied with
electoral politics. In the months after the Popular Front's rise to
power, strikes, demonstrations, and rebellions broke out throughout
Spain. Throughout the countryside, almost 5 km² of land were
taken over by squatters. The Popular Front parties began
to lose control. Anarchists would continue to strike even when
prudent socialists called it off, taking food from stores when strike funds ran out.

The CNT's national congress in May 1936 had an overtly
revolutionary tone. Among the topics discussed were sexual freedom,
plans for agrarian communes, and the elimination of social hierarchy.

Anarchist presence
in the Spanish Civil War

The Republican
government responded to the threat of a military uprising with
remarkable timidity and inaction. The CNT had warned Madrid of a
rising based in Morocco
months earlier and even gave the exact date and time of 5 A.M. on
July 19, which it had learned through its impressive espionage
apparatus. Yet, the Popular Front did nothing, and refused to give
arms to the CNT. Tired of begging for weapons and being denied, CNT
militants raided an arsenal and doled out arms to the unions. Militias
were placed on alert days before the planned rising.

The rising was actually moved forward two days to July 17, and
was crushed in areas heavily defended by anarchist militants, such
as Barcelona. Some anarchist strongholds, such as Zaragoza, fell,
to the great dismay of those in Catalonia; this is possibly due to
the fact that they were being told that there was no "desperate
situation" by Madrid and thus did not prepare. The Government still
remained in a state of denial, even saying that the "Nationalist"
forces had been crushed in places where it had not been. It is
largely because of the militancy on the part of the unions, both
anarchist and communist, that the Rebel forces did not win the war
immediately.

Anarchist militias were remarkably libertarian within
themselves, particularly in the early part of the war before being
partially absorbed into the regular army. They had no rank system, no
hierarchy, no salutes, and those called "Commanders" were elected
by the troops.

The most effective anarchist unit was the Durruti Column,
led by already legendary militant Buenaventura Durruti. It was the
only anarchist unit which managed to gain respect from otherwise
fiercely hostile political opponents. In a section of her memoirs
which otherwise lambastes the anarchists, Dolores Ibarruri states: "The war developed
with minimal participation from the anarchists in its fundamental
operations. One exception was Durruti..." (Memorias de Dolores
Ibarruri, p. 382). The column began with 3,000 troops, but at
its peak was made up of about 8,000 men. They had a difficult time
getting arms from a fearful Republican government, so Durruti and
his men compensated by seizing unused arms from government
stockpiles. Durruti's death on November 20, 1936 weakened the
Column in spirit and tactical ability; they were eventually
incorporated, by decree, into the regular army. Over a quarter of
the population of Barcelona attended Durruti's funeral. It is still
uncertain how Durruti died; modern historians tend to agree that it
was an accident, perhaps a malfunction with his own gun or a result
of friendly fire, but widespread rumors at the time claimed
treachery by his men; anarchists tended to claim that he died
heroically and was shot by a fascist sniper. Given the widespread
repression against Anarchists by the Soviets, which included
torture and summary executions, it is also possible that it was a
USSR plot. [2]

Another famous unit was the Iron Column, made up of ex-convicts and
other "disinherited" Spaniards sympathetic to the Revolution. The
Republican government denounced them as "uncontrollables" and
"bandits," but they had a fair amount of success in battle. In
March 1937 they were incorporated into the regular army.

CNT-FAI
collaboration with government during the war

In 1936, the CNT decided, after several refusals, to collaborate
with the government of Largo Caballero. Juan
García Oliver became Minister of Justice (where he abolished
legal fees and had all criminal dossiers destroyed), Diego Abad de Santillán became
Minister of the Economy, and Federica Montseny became Minister of
Health, to name a few instances.

During the Spanish Civil War, many anarchists outside of Spain
criticized the CNT leadership for entering into government and
compromising with communist elements on the Republican side. Those
in Spain felt that this was a temporary adjustment, and that once
Franco was defeated, they would continue in their libertarian ways.
There was also concern with the growing power of authoritarian
communists within the government. Montseny later explained: "At
that time we only saw the reality of the situation created for us:
the communists in the government and ourselves outside, the
manifold possibilities, and all our achievements endangered."

Indeed, some anarchists outside of Spain viewed their
concessions as necessary considering the grim possibility of losing
everything should the fascists win the war. Emma Goldman said, "With Franco at the
gate of Madrid, I could hardly blame the CNT-FAI for choosing a
lesser evil: participation in government rather than dictatorship,
the most deadly evil."[3]

To this day, the issue remains controversial among
anarchists.

1936
Revolution

Along with the fight against fascism was a profound anarchist revolution
throughout Spain.

Much of Spain's economy was put under worker control; in
anarchist strongholds like Catalonia, the figure was as high as
75%, but lower in areas with heavy socialist influence. Factories
were run through worker committees, agrarian areas became
collectivized and run as libertarian communes. Even places like hotels, barber
shops, and restaurants were collectivized and managed by their
workers. George
Orwell describes a scene in Aragon during this time period, in his book,
Homage to Catalonia:

I had dropped more or less by chance into the only
community of any size in Western Europe where political
consciousness and disbelief in capitalism were more normal than
their opposites. Up here in Aragon one was among tens of thousands
of people, mainly though not entirely of working-class origin, all
living at the same level and mingling on terms of equality. In
theory it was perfect equality, and even in practice it was not far
from it. There is a sense in which it would be true to say that one
was experiencing a foretaste of Socialism, by which I mean that the
prevailing mental atmosphere was that of Socialism. Many of the
normal motives of civilized life--snobbishness, money-grubbing,
fear of the boss, etc.--had simply ceased to exist. The ordinary
class-division of society had disappeared to an extent that is
almost unthinkable in the money-tainted air of England; there was
no one there except the peasants and ourselves, and no one owned
anyone else as his master.

Despite the critics clamoring for maximum efficiency, anarchic
communes often produced more than before the collectivization. The
newly liberated zones worked on entirely libertarian principles;
decisions were made through councils of ordinary citizens without
any sort of bureaucracy. (It should be noted that the CNT-FAI
leadership was at this time not nearly as radical as the rank and
file members responsible for these sweeping changes.)

In addition to the economic revolution, there was a spirit of cultural
revolution. Oppressive traditions were done away with. For
instance, women were allowed to have abortions, and the idea
of "free love" became
popular. In many ways, this spirit of cultural liberation was
similar to that of the "New
Left" movements of the 1960s.

Counter-revolution

During the Civil War, Communist Party
gained considerable influence due to the necessity of aid from the
Soviet Union. Communists and "liberals" on the Republican
side gave considerable effort to crush the anarchist revolution,
ostensibly to bolster the anti-Fascist effort (the response was,
"The revolution and the war are inseparable"). Pravda announced in December 1936 that "...the
mopping up of Trotskyists and anarcho-syndicalists has
already begun. It will be carried out with the same vigor as in the
USSR." Another
communist boldly proclaimed in an interview that they would "make
short work of the anarchists after the defeat of Franco." Their
efforts to weaken the revolution were ultimately successful:
hierarchy was eventually restored in many of the collectivized
areas, and power was taken away from workers and unions, to be
monopolized by the Popular Front.

Most important, perhaps, were the measures to destroy the
militias, who were arguably leading the war effort in spirit as
well as in action. The militias were eventually declared illegal
and technically merged with the Popular Army. This had the effect
of demoralizing the soldiers and taking away what they had
ultimately been fighting for: not for the Soviet Union, but for themselves and for
freedom. Vladimir
Antonov-Ovseenko, working in Spain for Stalin, had predicted this
in 1936: "Without the participation of the CNT, it will not, of
course, be possible to create the appropriate enthusiasm and
discipline in the people's militia/Republican militia."

Indeed, the counter-revolutionary fervor often served
to weaken the anti-Fascist war effort. For example, a huge cache of arms was allowed to
fall to Francoist forces for fear that it otherwise would end up in
the hands of the anarchists. Troops were pulled off the front lines
to crush anarchist collectives. Many able soldiers were
assassinated for their political ideology; a leader of the
repressive efforts, Enrique Lister, said
that he would "shoot all the anarchists [he] had to." It was
revealed that many anarchists were being held in prisons under
Communist orders, rather than fighting on the front, and that
furthermore many of these prisoners were tortured and shot.

In what became known as the "Barcelona May Days", the most
dramatic repressive effort against the anarchists came in May 1937.
Communist-led police forces attempted to take over a CNT-run
telephone building in Barcelona. The telephone workers fought back,
setting up barricades and surrounding the Communist "Lenin
Barracks." Five days of street fighting ensued, causing over 500
deaths. This tragic series of events greatly demoralized the
workers of Barcelona.

Afterwards, the government sent in 6,000 men to disarm the
workers, and the FAI was outlawed. However, the Communist workers
were allowed to keep their weapons; only the anarchists were forced
to turn them in. This is not surprising considering that the Police
and government in Barcelona were overtly Communist-run by this
point. The militant Friends of
Durruti group encouraged the fighting to continue, feeling that
defeat by the Communists would ruin the strength of the anarchist
movement. Their call was not heeded.

Throughout the Civil War, the various Communist newspapers engaged in a
massive propaganda
campaign against the anarchists and the POUM. They were often called "Hitlerites" and
"fascists" in the pay of Franco, as George Orwell notes in
Homage to Catalonia: "Just imagine how odious it must be
to see a young 15-year old Spaniard brought back from the front
lines on a stretcher, to see, poking out from under the blanket an
anemic, bewildered face and to think that in London and Paris there
are gentlemen dressed to the nines, blithely engaged in writing
pamphlets to show this little lad is a covert fascist." The
unreliability of these newspapers peaked when not even one reported
the events of May 1937.

The Franco
Years

When Francisco Franco took power in 1939,
he had tens of thousands of political dissidents executed. The
total number of politically motivated killings between 1939 and
1943 is estimated to be around 200,000. Political prisoners filled
the jails, which were twenty times more populous than before the
war. Forced labor camps were opened up, where, according to
historian Antony
Beevor, "the system was probably as bad as in Germany or
Russia." Despite these actions, underground resistance to Franco's
rule lingered for decades. Actions by the Resistance included,
among other things, sabotage, releasing prisoners, underground
organizing of workers, aiding fugitives and refugees, and
assassinations of government officials.

Little attention was paid to the Spaniards who refused to accept
Franco's rule, even by those who had been against him during the
War. Miguel
Garcia, an anarchist jailed for 22 years, describes their
circumstances in his 1972 book: "When we lost the war, those who
fought on became the Resistance. But to the world, the Resistance
had become criminals, for Franco made the laws, even if, when
dealing with political opponents, he chose to break the laws
established by the constitution; and the world still regards us as
criminals. When we are imprisoned, liberals are not interested, for
we are "terrorists"...."

The guerilla resistance (referred to in Spain as Maquis) was
effectively ended around 1960 with the death of many of its more
experienced militants. In the period from the end of the war until
1960, according to government sources, there were 1,866 clashes
with security forces and 535 acts of sabotage. 2,173 guerillas were
killed and 420 were wounded, while the figures for government
forces lost amount to only 307 killed and 372 wounded. 19,340
resistance fighters were arrested over this time interval. Those
who aided the guerillas were met with similar brutality; as many as
20,000 were arrested over the years on this charge, with many
facing torture during interrogation.

The Spanish government under Franco continued to persecute
"criminals" until its demise. In the earlier years, some prisons
were filled up to fourteen times their capacity, with prisoners
hardly able to move about. People were often locked up simply for
carrying a union card. Active militants were often less fortunate;
thousands were shot or hanged. Two of the most able Resistance
fighters, Jose Luis Facerias and Francisco Sabater Llopart (often called
"Sabaté"), were simply shot by police forces; many anarchists met a
similar fate.

During World War
II, Spanish anarchists worked with the French
Resistance, engaging in actions both on the homefront and
abroad. They worked especially to smuggle Jewish families into Spain,
forging passes for them and helping them find safety, in order to
protect them from Nazi
oppression.

During his dictatorship, there were at least 30 different plots
to kill Franco, mostly made by anarchists. In 1964, anarchist Stuart Christie
travelled from Scotland to
attempt to kill Franco; he failed, and was then imprisoned, later
to write the book General Franco Made Me A Terrorist.

The then-underground CNT was also involved: in 1962, a secret
"Interior Defense" section was formed to coordinate actions of the
resistance.

Today

The CNT is still active today. Their influence,
however, is limited. The CNT, in 1979, split into two factions:
CNT/AIT and CNT/U. The CNT/AIT claimed the
original "CNT" name, which led the CNT/U to change its name to Confederación General del
Trabajo (CGT) in 1989, which retains most of the CNT's
principles. The CGT is much larger,
with perhaps 50,000 members (although it represents as many as two
million workers), and is currently the third largest union in
Spain. An important cause for the split and the main practical
difference between the two trade unions today is that the CGT
participates, just like any other Spanish trade union, in
elecciones sindicales, where workers choose their
representatives who sign their collective bargaining agreements.
CGT has an important number of representatives in, for example, SEAT, the Spanish car manufacturer
and still the largest enterprise in Catalonia and also in the
public railroad system, e.g.: it holds the majority in Barcelona's
underground. CNT does not participate in elecciones
sindicales and criticizes this model. The CNT-CGT split has
made it impossible for the government to give back the unions'
important facilities that belonged to them before Franco's regime
seized them and used them for their only legal
trade union, a devolution also still pending in part for some
of the other historical political parties and worker
organizations.[5]

Anarchist ideas enjoy a considerable popularity in parts of
Spain, as they have throughout the world in the last few decades.
Large May Day demonstrations
occur annually.

In all Spain, but above all in Barcelona, squatting is widespread; many of these
squatters hold anarchist views. Anarchists produce a local calendar
called Info Usurpa[6] that
lists around forty explicitly anarchist squats that are organized as social centers
(Centros Sociales). These social centers put on events ranging from
concerts, community dinners, and workshops to language courses and
free internet cafés. They have faced strong opposition from the
authorities, including raids and evictions. In 2004, following the
eviction of the squat L'Hamsa, squatters smashed the windows of
banks and real estate offices, set dumpsters on fire, attacked
police cars, and spray painted slogans on the city's walls.

Relationship with
socialists and communists

Spain was the only country in Europe where anarchists had more
influence than socialists. Scholars have proposed a number
of reasons for this anomaly. Spain was, unlike most of Europe, a
largely rural, peasant-based society. Marx and his followers tended to treat the
peasants with disdain while holding the urban worker to be the
prime agent of revolutionary change. It is unsurprising, then, that
Marxist ideas were unpopular or unknown amongst rural peasants,
many of whom heartily embraced anarchism, a theory which held
similarities to long-held traditions of mutual aid and
village-level organization. Indeed, federalist Francisco Pi y
Margall would claim that "Spanish anarchism is nothing more than an
expression of the federal and individualist traditions of the
country, that "the anarchist movement is not an outcome of abstract
discussions, or theories cultivated by a few intellectuals, but an
outcome of a social dynamic...." Furthermore, Spain had never been
strongly united at the federal level, and Marxist statism seemed
irrelevant in regionalistic Spain where the idea of a powerful
central government never took hold, except on the far-right. Thus,
for various reasons, anarchism triumphed as Spain's primary
revolutionary program.

There was occasional but fleeting and superficial unity between
anarchists and non-communist socialists, but in general relations
were uneasy. A socialist leader once said: "There is a great deal
of confusion in the minds of many comrades. They consider Anarchist
Syndicalism as an ideal which runs parallel with our own, when
it is its absolute antithesis, and that the Anarchists and
Syndicalists are comrades when they are our greatest enemies." The
often opportunistic UGT often provided scabs
to break CNT strikes.
Condemnations of socialist tactics by anarchists was not at all
uncommon. Yet, more radical socialists (like the POUM) often made allies out of the anarchists,
especially during the Civil War and particularly in the defense of
Madrid. By 1938, an official pact of unity had been signed between
the CNT and the UGT.

Communists had extremely limited influence
within Spain until around the time of the Civil War. The working
classes, anarchist or not, responded to the Bolshevik revolution with triumph, as did
most revolutionaries throughout the world. It was celebrated as a
victory of the masses and a beacon of hope. Workers refused to ship
arms that would be used against the Red Army. However, libertarians
soon discovered the true nature of Bolshevik power, especially
after the brutal suppression of the Kronstadt rebellion, and again when
Leon Trotsky's Red Army attacked Nestor Makhno's Black Guards in Ukraine.
The anarchist relationship with the Bolsheviks after these events
was bitter. The CNT ardently refused to join COMINTERN and
frequently criticized the policies of the Bolshevik government.
Communist antipathy to anarchism was equally strong: when
communists attained power during the Civil War, anarchist groups
were repressed, often violently.

Violence

Although many anarchists were opposed to the use of force, some
militants did use violence and terrorism to further their agendas. This "propaganda of the deed" first
became popular in the late 19th century. This was before the rise
of syndicalism as an anarchist tactic, and after a long history of
police repression that led many to despair.

The Desheredados (English translation: "the
Disinherited"), were a secret group advocating violence and said to
be behind a number of murders. Another group, Mano Negra
(Black Hand), was also rumoured to be behind various assassinations
and bombings, although there is some evidence that the group was a
sensational myth created by police in the Civil Guard (La Guardia Civil),
notorious for their brutality; in fact, it is well known that
police invented actions by their enemies, or carried them out
themselves, as a tool of repression. Los Solidarios and
Los Amigos de Durruti (Friends of Durruti) were other
groups that used violence as a political weapon. The former group
was responsible for the robbery of Banco de Bilbao which gained
300,000 pesetas, and the assassination of the Cardinal Archbishop
of Zaragoza Juan Soldevilla Romero, who was reviled as a
particularly reactionary cleric. Los Solidarios stopped
using violence with the end of the Primo de Rivera dictatorship,
when anarchists had more opportunities to work aboveground.

In later years, anarchists were responsible for a number of
church burnings throughout Spain. The Church, a powerful, usually right-wing political force in Spain, was
always hated by anti-authoritarians. At this time, their influence
was not as grand as in the past, but a rise of anti-Christian
sentiment coincided with their perceived or real support of fascism. Many of the burnings
were not committed by anarchists. However, anarchists were often
used as a scapegoat by
the authorities.

Rarely was violence directed towards civilians. However, there
are a few recorded cases in which anarchists enforced their own
beliefs with violence; one observer reports incidents in which
pimps and drug dealers were shot on the spot. Forced
collectivization, while exceedingly rare, did occur on several
occasions when ideals were dropped in favor of wartime pragmatism.
In general, though, individual holdings were respected by
anarchists who opposed coercive violence more vigorously than
small-scale property possession.

Despite the violence of some, many anarchists in Spain adopted
an ascetic lifestyle in line with their
libertarian beliefs. Smoking, drinking, gambling, and prostitution were widely looked down upon.
Anarchists avoided dealing with institutions they proposed to fight
against: most did not enter into marriages, go to State-run schools
(libertarian schools, like the CatalanFerrer's
"Modern School," were
popular), or attempt to aggrandize their personal wealth. This
moralism starkly contrasts with the popular view of anarchists as
anomic firebrands, but also is part of another stereotype that the
anarchism in Spain was a millenarian pseudo-religion.

Feminism

Feminism has
historically played a role alongside the development of anarchism;
Spain is no exception. The CNT's founding congress placed special
emphasis on the role of women in the labor force and urged an
effort to recruit them into the organization. There was also a
denunciation of the exploitation of women in society and of wives
by their husbands.

Women's
rights had been integral in anarchist ideas such as coeducation, the abolition of marriage, and abortion rights, amongst
others; these were quite radical ideas in traditionally Catholic Spain. Women had
played a large part in many of the struggles, even fighting
alongside their male comrades on the barricades. However, they were
often marginalized; for example, women often were paid less in the
agrarian collectives and had less visible roles in
larger anarchist organizations.

A Spanish anarchist group known as Mujeres Libres (Free Women)
provided day-care, education, maternity centers, and other
services for the benefit of women. The group had a peak membership
of between 20,000 and 38,000. Its first national congress, held in
1937, with delegations from over a dozen different cities
representing about 115 smaller groups. The statutes of the
organization declared its purpose as being "a. To create a
conscious and responsible feminine force that will act as a
vanguard of progress; b. To establish for this purpose schools,
institutes, lectures, special courses, etc., to train the woman and
emancipate her from the triple slavery to which she has been and
still is submitted: the slavery of ignorance, the slavery of being
a woman, and the slavery of being a worker."